Alcyoniidae is a family of leathery or soft corals in the phylum

Cnidaria Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that ...

.Leathery corals
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Description

A colony of leathery coral is stiff, hard and inflexible. It is composed of tiny polyps projecting from a shared leathery tissue. Members of the family may have two kinds of polyps; the autozooids have long trunks and eight tiny branched tentacles and project from the shared leathery tissue while the siphonozooids remain below the surface and pump water for the colony. They appear as tiny hollows or mounds among the taller autozooids. Different genera have different proportions of these two kinds of polyps. The autozooids only emerge when the colony is fully submerged.

Distribution and habitat

Leathery corals occur globally in temperate and tropical seas. They are often pioneer reef species and are found in wave-exposed areas of reef crests, less turbid waters in lagoons, on steep slopes, under overhangs and at depths of thirty metres or even deeper.

Biology

Lobophyton (soft coral) with extended polyps

Leathery coral polyps include

endosymbiotic An ''endosymbiont'' or ''endobiont'' is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship. (The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον ''endon'' "within ...

algae called

zooxanthellae Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus ''S ...

. The algae undergo

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

and produce sugars from sunlight. This food is shared with the host, which itself provides the algae with minerals and shelter. Periodically, the surface layer of the leathery tissue is shed. This seems to be a mechanism for ridding the colony of unwanted algal growth. In a study on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

, it was found that the population of these corals was very stable. There was little predation, low rates of growth, reproduction and mortality, few new colonies came into existence and few disappeared over a three-year period.

Genera

The following genera are recognized in the family Alcyoniina: * '' Alcyonium'' Linnaeus, 1758 * '' Aldersladum'' Benayahu & McFadden, 2011 * '' Anthomastus'' Verrill, 1878 * '' Bathyalcyon'' Versluys, 1906 * '' Bellonella'' Gray, 1862 * ''

Cladiella ''Cladiella'' is a genus of soft corals native to the Indo-Pacific region. These corals are commonly known as colt corals or finger leather corals and are often kept in reef aquaria. They grow fast, have short rounded or conical lobes and are s ...

'' Gray, 1869 * '' Complexum'' Van Ofwegen, Aurelle & Sartoretto, 2014 * '' Dampia'' Alderslade, 1983 * '' Discophyton'' McFadden & Hochberg, 2003 * '' Elbeenus'' Alderslade, 2002 * '' Eleutherobia'' Puetter, 1900 * ''

Hedera ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa an ...

'' Conti-Jerpe & Freshwater, 2017 * '' Heteropolypus'' Tixier-Durivault, 1964 * '' Inflatocalyx'' Verseveldt & Bayer, 1988 * '' Klyxum'' Alderslade, 2000 * '' Lanthanocephalus'' Williams & Starmer, 2000 * '' Lithophyton'' * ''

Lobophytum ''Lobophytum'' is a genus of soft corals commonly known as devil's hand corals or devil's hand leather corals. Habitat and range ''Lobophytum'' species can be found in shallow water throughout a wide area of the tropical Indo-Pacific The ...

'' Marenzeller, 1886 * '' Lobularia'' Savigny * '' Lohowia'' Alderslade, 2003 * '' Malacacanthus'' Thomson, 1910 * '' Minabea'' Utinomi, 1957 * '' Notodysiferus'' Alderslade, 2003 * '' Paraminabea'' Williams & Alderslade, 1999 * '' Parerythropodium'' Kuekenthal, 1916 * '' Protodendron'' Thomson & Dean, 1931 * '' Pseudoanthomastus'' Tixier-Durivault & d'Hondt, 1974 * '' Rhytisma'' Alderslade, 2000 * '' Sarcophyton'' Lesson, 1834 * ''

Sinularia ''Sinularia'' is a genus of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. They are commonly known as leather corals and currently have 166 described species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an o ...

'' May, 1898 * '' Skamnarium'' Alderslade, 2000 * '' Sphaeralcyon'' Lopez-Gonzalez & Gili, 2005 * '' Sphaerasclera'' McFadden & van Ofwegen, 2013 * '' Thrombophyton'' * '' Verseveldtia'' Williams, 1990

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q139814 Alcyoniina Cnidarian families

Description

Distribution and habitat

Biology

Genera

See also

References